APPROPRIATION BILL FOR 1947 84378 HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEVENTY-NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT APPROPRIATION BILL FOR 1947 PART 2 BUREAU OF RECLAMATION Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations ROBERT P. WILLIAMS, Administrative Assistant, Editor UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1946 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS CLARENCE CANNON, Missouri, Chairman LOUIS LUDLOW, Indiana JAMIE L. WHITTEN, Mississippi JOHN TABER, New York RICHARD B. WIGGLESWORTH, Massachusetts EVERETT M. DIRKSEN, Illinois KARL STEFFAN, Nebraska H. CARL ANDERSEN, Minnesota UNITED STATES OF AMERICA MAY 20 46 INTERIOR DEPARTMENT APPROPRIATION BILL FOR 1947 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1946. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION STATEMENTS OF MICHAEL W. STRAUS, COMMISSIONER; WILLIAM E. WARNE, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER; KENNETH MARKWELL, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER; GOODRICH W. LINEWEAVER, DIRECTOR OF OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE; HARVEY F. McPHAIL, DIRECTOR OF POWER UTILIZATION; T. W. MERMEL, ENGINEERING ASSISTANT; WILLIAM F. KUBACH, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE; WENDELL BRAMWELL, ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE; BEN W. CREIM, REGIONAL POWER MANAGER, SACRAMENTO, CALIF., AND LEONARD J. MORAN, FINANCE OFFICER, DENVER, COLO. Mr. JOHNSON of Oklahoma. The committee will consider this morning the 1947 estimates for the Bureau of Reclamation. APPRECIATION OF SERVICES OF FORMER COMMISSIONER HARRY W. BASHORE Before doing so, I would like first to express my very deep regret, and I feel sure the regret of all the members of this committee, that we no longer have with us former Commissioner Harry Bashore, who has retired to private life. Mr. Bashore had the complete confidence of the members of this committee. He was not only capable, sincere, and true to his trust in the position that he held for more than 3 years, but he was diligent and cooperative and had the interest of the Reclamation Service, as well as the people, at heart. He was truly a friend of the great West. We shall miss him greatly. WELCOME TO THE NEW COMMISSIONER, MR. MICHAEL W. STRAUS We welcome the new Commissioner, Mr. Michael W. Straus, who is here this morning. The members of the committee are well acquainted with Mr. Straus, who has served as Assistant Secretary in the Department. I am sure that all of us wish him every success in his new assignment. We see that to his left is our good friend, Bill Warne, who accompanied the committee through the great Central Valley in California during the past summer and gave us much valuable information. I want to say for the record that we appreciate Mr. Warne's assistWe became better acquainted with him, and we have found ance. 1 that when we know people better we usually like them. Someone has said that a bureaucrat is an official of the Government whom you do not like. I have found few bureaucrats during my 20 years in Congress and a lot of Government officials, and I am glad to welcome several faithful, efficient, and energetic Government officials here this morning. May you always remain Government officials and not bureaucrats. Mr. Straus, do you care to make a brief general statement to the committee? GENERAL STATEMENT Mr. STRAUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a brief general statement that covers a great deal of material which is not in the formal submission. This is the forty-fourth year that the Bureau comes before Appropriation Committees, which have made a diligent and continuing study of Reclamation, at this time to report to you upon the programs which the Congress has financed to date together with the President's estimate for the coming fiscal year 1947 which you have before you now. These total $163,554,055 for the construction of 28 irrigation and multiple-purpose projects, general investigations, operation, and maintenance and related activities. While all told the estimates embrace the most comprehensive reclamation program submitted to any Congress in any year since the Bureau of Reclamation was established, this is only natural as our country swings back to its first full year of postwar permanent internal development after 6 years of world destruction. During the war years the Congress has considered and authorized many Reclamation works but deferred their financing and construction until the peacetime that we have now attained. The result is an accumulation of examined and authorized works that total about $1,300,000,000 at 1940 prices and are now to be undertaken at a rate that the Congress will fix. The estimate before you represents less progress toward building authorized projects than was attained by the Bureau in the last prewar year of 1940. Were that prewar rate of progress toward completing the work that the Congress has laid out for us to be attained in the coming year, the estimate before you would be considerably larger. You have before you a 6-pound book of justifications breaking down this program in detail far more accurately than I could hope to do. You also have with you today experienced officials of the Bureau whom you have known for years, including Assistant Commissioner Warne, Assistant Commissioner Markwell, Director of Finance Kubach and his assistant Mr. Bramwell, Director of Operations and Maintenance Lineweaver, Director of Power Utilization McPhail, and other officials of the central and field offices who have a longer familiarity with these essential details than I have. In an effort to supply most promptly and accurately further information that you may require, the Bureau, during these hearings, will rely greatly on their knowledge. I shall follow Mr. Bashore's practice of requesting them to present the details. I will remain at your service throughout the hearings. |